Sometimes Myths Are All In The MInd

I found that many people hear about Transylvania. Not many can describe where one can find the location of Transylvania in terms of place in the world.

Some people ask where is it? Romania? To this extent they are correct. It is only when people ask is that where Dracula comes from that they are incorrect.

I think it is our Culture which promotes this. A lot of people came to Romania. Queen Marie of Romania was crowned there. At that time in 1922 the area held many people of many different races. Some were even related to Vlad Tepes.

People are interested when I tell them that my family is German from the area. Sometimes I propagate the Myths. I howl at the moon. I Play the voice of Dracula.

Then I tell them that I am only joking. Though it is fun to tell people about my family. It is more fun to tell them about the myths and the reality of what is true.

Vlad - real person Dracula - not

Many people living in the area -Yes All in harmony not exactly.

More myths and explanations to come.

There Be Lutherans Nearby!

Transylvania, a home to Hungarians, Germans, Romanians and other smaller groups, also held many religions. For most people the fact of different religions is forgotten.

The Catholic faith, held by most Hungarians, was strong. The Romanians adhered to the Romanian Orthodox Church. The Germans adhered to the Lutheran Church. In many villages people remembered that each group had its won church. This held true even in the cities.

Although each group mingled infrequently, the religions and languages developed and each accepted the other. Almost.

This is the myth, reality is that the people did not have much rights and often times there would be a questions of who was allowed to be where. Many Germans lived in their own villages with few others. Same with the other groups.

There are stories of how each group would out do the other with festivals and parades. After the Fri st World War things changed and the Romanians would take away much land from the Saxons, Swabians and Hungarians who lived in Transylvania. So much for togetherness.

Sometimes A Bit Of Culure Is To Much

Transylvania has a long history of people going back centuries. Even Romans. The Roman Empire was one of the first groups to want to have a place called Transylvania.

The Romans, being efficient didn't call it Transylvania then, they called it Dacia. Some of their towns and fortifications survive even today. That's a lot of history. They held the area for a while until the armies of the people, whom the Romans would call Barbarians, came to destroy the Western Roman Empire. The Romans left.

Some people say everyone left, and some say that the people, such as farmers remained. It is entirely possible that they did. Chances are great the people who say that some stayed are right. The poor farmers would not have the means to go back to Rome or anywhere else for that matter. By then as they say when in Rome...

The myths over time grew that some of the roman farmers and lower ranking solider in fact did stay and that they formed the backbone of what is now the land of Romania.

It would be interesting to find more about this simply because one never knows, and a good mystery needs to be solved at some point.

On to more myths!

Over the Hills And Into The Water

Transylvania is surrounded by mountains, but inside it contains many creeks, streams and rivers. This provided the lifeblood to the people to live and lived there.

I always see the mountains when I think of Transylvania, high, majestic, forbidding. I forgot the water.

Many people learned how to swim in their villages because the water from creeks and other bodies of water lay nearby. The vineyards needed water and most of the village grew grapes, and made wine.

Still, in my mind I see rugged countryside. Mountains. The whole chain of Mountains- the Carpathians- ringing the area. I don't see the forests and the countryside and the fields. i forget that people need to live not in the mountains but around them.

The myth that Transylvania is all mountains holds true even today, most people who lived there remember the mountains. It is not until they continue talking that they remember the lakes, rivers, and creeks.

So Transylvania has quite the unique territory. Not just mountains

More myths to come...

Onward to A Town

I am amazed at how many people do not like to believe that myths are a something which might be true far back, but is now harder to find.

I never knew about farming to me the idea that people lived the way my grandparents lived in Transylvania is hard on my sensibilities. I am to much a big town city girl.

Still even my mother grew up in this far away land and found that she still misses it. I suppose one learns to love what they grew up with.

Myth 1: the people in Transylvania had enough to eat.

No in fact they worked hard as a whole village to produce enough food to get through the winter, they grew a lot of things: wheat, corn, and vegetables... still it was not enough.

I am sure that through the travels of myths that I am on, Dracula probably didn't eat all that well either.... But that is for another time.

People Coming and Going

People from the area of Transylvania are people who were always on the move. They were Hungarian, part of the Austrian Empire and then part of Romania. They never actually moved though, just the area they lived changed hands.

Similar to the the land is the myths that grew from the area. Maybe Bram Stoker shouldn't have looked around for the area. IT really doesn't look like how he describes. In fact the city which he describes is much different. The city if called Bistriz by the Germans.

Vlad, was a prince of Walachia not of Transylvania.

Robert Browning, though came closer to a truth then a myth.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin is worth the read. Especially the ending if one is strongly interested in the people who came from Germany.

It would be even more interesting if myths from Hungary became part of Transylvania.... a saint perhaps? or a king??

Myths Misspellings and the Transylvanian Saxons

I find that when I look at my writing and continue my search on myths of Transylvania I can see where work needs to be done.

Take for instance, Werewolves. Not really part of the Transylvanian Saxons culture but it is part of the Romanian and Hungarian culture. They all held firm belief in the werewolf existed.

I am quite sure that the Transylvanian Saxons did so as well, but they wouldn't admit to such a thing. After all they were German, and Most people do not like to be told that they are wrong.

Werewolves somehow began to fascinate me. maybe it is because i like the horror genre. Perhaps because I am searching these things out.

Maybe the culture in which I live doesn't help me much. I found myself in a disconnect with people from the area since they do not look to these myths as something to talk about.

Oh well,
on to search for more of Transylvania

Drat Dracula

I am entralled about all things Transylvanian mostly because my family is from that land.

Dracula is an interesting creature. More interesting as a man. I do find his version of death deadly. Vlad is truly a master.

Even more fun to learn about is how Transylvania was a free province until taken over by Austria. There were so many cultures living there up until the end of the Second World War.

German, Hungarian, Romanian, Roma, they all lived there together.

Dracula and the Pied Piper add so much mytic to the land. The Pied Pieper is probably more real then the rest... and I do not mean werewolves.

Werewolves are everywhere in legends, only Transylvania was teh perfect spot for them.

Off Into the Woods we go.

The more I hear about Transylvania the more I like about it.

The stories that I am told are unique and at the same time are similar. I spent several hours with people from the area.

They all laughed about Dracula, yet upon the mention of Pied Piper, a new thing happened.

A legend might be true. In the German tradition, the Saxon who lived there were from Hamelin.

Vlad though still interests me. I'll live.

More things coming soon. Maybe werewolves....